Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Podcasting: What's the Big Deal?

So you may have heard of podcasting before, and maybe even listened to a podcast, but what is the big deal about them and why are they so popular?

Well, podcasts really have iTunes to thank for their popularity. If you find a podcast series that you would like to listen to on iTunes, you simply click on "Subscribe" and new episodes will be downloaded automatically every time you open iTunes on your computer. To add to this, you can set up iTunes to upload your podcastsdirectly to your ipod/iphone/ipad when it is connected. Incredibly easy and free.

If you haven't heard about podcasting, think about it as a combination between radio and blogging. Podcastscome in 3 different forms - audio, audio with pictures, and video. Most podcasts are not just single files, rather they usually are a part of a longer series of episodes, like a television series.

In the classroom, podcasts can be used in a number of ways. Teachers can use podcasts to record lectures or assignments, as well as listen to podcasts for professional development. Students can utilize podcasts to demonstrate their learning, as a presentation tool, documenting a class discussion, conducting interviews, or broadcasting classroom news.

Author:

I am currently in my first year as vice-principal of Rosemary School in Rosemary, Alberta, Canada. I enjoy learning about new technologies as well as educational leadership and their implications for the classroom. Twitter is where I go to learn. Through my blog, I try to share that learning with others.